#308 An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War w/ Robert K.D. Colby
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2024
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The American Civil War and the end of slavery in the US may seem like one and the same from our modern perspective, but for those living through the conflict, the abolition of human bondage was anything but certain. Even into the last days of the war, slave traders in Confederate-held cities continued to auction off human beings, realizing handsome profits as they imposed violence and family separation on their subjects.
In his new book, An Unholy Traffic: Slave Trading in the Civil War South, Robert K.D. Colby brings together a wide variety of sources to offer up a never-before seen look into the slave trade during the American Civil War. In this episode, he joins Ben and guest co-host Tim Talbott to explain how the slave trade evolved, why slave traders remained confident in the future of slavery even during the Civil War, and how the combined trauma of slavery and war impacted enslaved Americans long after their freedom had been secured.
Robert K.D. Colby is Assistant Professor of History at Ole Miss who specializes in the Civil War and the history of slavery. His newest book, An Unholy Traffic was published by Oxford University Press in April 2024 and is available in both print and audiobook.
Tim Talbott is the Chief Administrative Officer for the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust in Fredericksburg, Virginia and founding member and President of the Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association. Tim holds a MA in Public History from Appalachian State University, where Ben had the great fortune to study alongside him.
Relevant Links:
· The Smithsonian Digital Volunteers Transcription Center website
· RTN Episode 270: Women & American Slavery w/ Stephanie E. Jones Rogers
· RTN Episode 117: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism w/ Edward Baptist
This episode was edited by Ben Sawyer.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Ben Sawyer and this is the Road to Now. |
| 0:08.0 | Today we are on the cusp of Juneteenth and we are sharing a conversation that is well suited to this celebration. |
| 0:16.0 | Our guest today is Robert Colby. He is the author of the new book, An Unholy Traffic, Slave Trading and the Civil War South. |
| 0:24.1 | This book brings together so many fascinating sources to offer an really unprecedented look into what the slave trade looked like during the years of the Civil War, how it affected those who were enslaved. |
| 0:34.0 | It's really just got so much to offer. Even if you know the war well, the history of the war, |
| 0:38.9 | the history of slavery, you'll still be surprised. Plus, we got a bonus for this one. My special |
| 0:45.2 | co-host for the day is Tim Talbot. He's the chief administrative officer for the Central Virginia |
| 0:49.9 | Battlefield Trust in Frederikburg, Virginia, and founding member and president of the |
| 0:54.5 | Battle of New Market Heights Memorial and Education Association, but more importantly, Tim is an |
| 0:58.9 | old friend of mine from grad school back at App State where we had the most incredible cohort. |
| 1:05.1 | And just Tim would constantly blow our minds with stories about the Civil War. |
| 1:08.9 | To this day, he remains one of the most, almost unbelievably knowledgeable historians of the Civil War. |
| 1:15.2 | And he's engaged in public history, so he spends his life sharing stories with the public. |
| 1:19.2 | He's the perfect host for today, and I should give him credit for recommending Robert Colby. |
| 1:24.2 | This was a lot of fun, and I want to say I'm probably going to do this a couple more times because |
| 1:28.1 | the whole idea was let's find a friend of mine who I know is brilliant. Ask them a great book they've read recently and then have them join me as a co-host for a one-off episode and inviting that guest to join us. I think this one turned out great. Let us know what you think about it. Obviously, this is a temporary thing Bob's promoting the album. |
| 1:45.3 | So don't worry about that. |
| 1:46.9 | But if you enjoy this and out great. Let us know what you think about it. Obviously, this is a temporary thing. Bob's promoting |
| 1:44.3 | the album. So don't worry about that. But if you enjoy this and this idea, let us know. Finally, |
| 1:50.1 | before we go, patrons, trivia is coming soon. June 26th, that's a Wednesday night. We are getting |
| 1:57.1 | together for live Zoom trivia that I will host. If you want to join us, go to patreon.com slash the road to now. It's going to be Wednesday, June 26th at 8 p.m. Eastern time. We've had a blast with these. We already got so many people who say they're going to come. So join us over there. You get extra content and you can come win some prizes. First place teams. Get to pick the book they want by a recent guest, |
| 2:18.2 | and an unholy traffic could be yours. But whether or not you win trivia, if you're there on |
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